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3 days in Belgium - Where to Stay?

Hi all!

My husband and I are traveling to Belgium this August and are trying to nail down our itinerary. Right now we are flying into London (these tickets are already purchased; we're ending our trip here) and then plan to immediately fly out again to Brussels, arriving late afternoon. We then have 3 full days and 4 nights, and leave for Paris via train.

What would be your recommendation for where to stay? Should we pick one city as a base or split up our nights?

Our plan as of now is to go straight from Brussels to Bruges and stay there 2 nights, visit Ghent for a day trip, and then spend our last 2 nights in Brussels before heading to Paris. The idea was to start at the farthest point and work our way back down...

But now after reading a few posts, I feel like perhaps we have too much time dedicated to Brussels? Your thoughts/advice would be much appreciated!

To give you some background, we are in our mid-30's, we're not crazy about going to museum after museum...we're more interested in walking around, looking at the architecture, eating/drinking, etc.

Posted by
2487 posts

Distances in Belgium are so small, it's hardly worth the trouble to change accommodation. Gent would be a perfect base for your whole trip: half an hour from both Brugge and Brussels on amazingly frequent trains.

Posted by
1937 posts

There are a lot of posts on this forum addressing this question, and you're not likely to get consensus. All four of the larger tourist destinations in Belgium (Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp) have their fans and their detractors.

But that's okay. The good news is they (and many of the other smaller places worth visiting in Belgium) are easily accessible by train. So you can easily stay in one place for all four nights and visit as many other places as time and energy allow. You could break it up into two stays of two nights each if you want. That depends more on what you like to do at the end of the day. Bruges is quieter in the evening. Ghent is all lit up and beautiful in the evening. You'll probably find more nightlife in Brussels. If you like to head back to your hotel for a late afternoon nap before heading out for dinner and nighttime fun, you might want to break it up and stay in two different locales.

The main thing is you can't go wrong. My recommendation is not to overthink it.

Posted by
3551 posts

Brugge for sure. I have been to all 3 locations in fact Brugge is one of the best to visit in all of Europe. Gorgeous architecture, history, beauty , a gentel river etc. ck out Ricks guidebk , lots to do and see. Do not. Miss it. Oh and famous for chocolates, too.

Posted by
6 posts

Good advice from Lane above, the region is a piece of cake to get around. My wife and I took our second trip to Belgium back in April. We stayed at a fantastic family run hotel called Carlton Hotel in Ghent that was very close to the train station and it worked out great. We could get from our hotel to Brussels or Brugges in roughly 1/2 hour and the trains run all day long. I highly recommend renting bicycles in Brugges and ride to Damme (or further) super fun.

Posted by
35 posts

Lane - "overthinking" is my middle name, lol...which is why I appreciate this forum so much! It's nice to get the opinions and advice of more experienced travelers.

We decided to stay 2 nights in Bruges at the B&B Setola listed in the RS book, and then stay one night in Belgium (instead of two) at the Ibis hotel off Grand Place.

Thanks everyone!

I cannot stress BRUGGE enough if you're into architecture and beer!!! I hear Ghent is sweet, but we spent 3 nights in Brugge and I could've done another week at least.

Posted by
3 posts

My husband and I were just in Brugge this week! We stayed at the Cote Canal bed and breakfast - the garden and all the rooms overlook a very quiet canal - everything was perfect and our host, Caroline, made us restaurant reservations, gave extensive walking and attraction advice and sent us on our way on our last morning with a packed breakfast we could eat on the train (we had to leave terribly early in the morning). I am writing Rick Steves to recommend it for his next guide! http://www.bruges-bedandbreakfast.be/